Lever
by Lever (Employ, Inc.) · Talent Acquisition
AI-powered applicant tracking system (ATS) and CRM for sourcing, screening and hiring.
Updated August 2026 · By the ERP Research Editorial Team · Independent and vendor-neutral.
- Works with
WorkdayADPBambooHRHiBobJustworks- Deployment
- Cloud
- Company size
- SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Founded
- 2012
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United States
Overview
Lever is a combined applicant tracking system (ATS) and candidate relationship management (CRM) platform, marketed as LeverTRM, that manages the hiring lifecycle from sourcing through offer and handoff to onboarding. It is positioned by its parent company, Employ, Inc., as the "scalable hiring" tier of its three-brand ATS portfolio (JazzHR for foundational hiring, Lever for scalable hiring, Jobvite for sophisticated/enterprise hiring).
The platform centralizes requisition management, candidate pipelines, interview scheduling and collaboration, and adds AI-assisted features for screening, candidate fit scoring, pipeline-health monitoring, and automated rejection communications. A separate recruiting analytics module provides dashboards for time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source mix, offer-accept rate and DEI/compliance reporting, including benchmarking against Employ's combined customer base.
Lever was founded in 2012 in San Francisco and was acquired by Employ, Inc. in August 2022, joining JazzHR and Jobvite under one parent company. It continues to operate as a distinct, actively sold product rather than being merged or sunset, with integrations to HRIS/payroll systems, background-check providers, job boards, and other recruiting tools managed through the Lever/Employ partner marketplace.
Features & capabilities
Sourcing & CRM
Building and nurturing candidate pipelines before and between roles.
- Candidate relationship management (CRM) alongside the ATS
- Talent pool and pipeline nurture campaigns
- Email sequencing and nurture-campaign performance tracking
- Chrome sourcing extension for pulling candidates from LinkedIn and other sites
- Career site and requisition posting
- Referral tracking
AI-Powered Screening & Insights
AI assistance across screening, interviewing and candidate communication.
- AI-generated candidate fit scores with stated justification
- Pipeline-health monitoring that flags at-risk candidates (e.g. no contact in 5+ days)
- Automated, personalized rejection email generation
- AI interview transcripts and auto-generated interview scorecards
- Fraud-prevention signals to flag suspicious applications
Interview Scheduling & Collaboration
Coordinating hiring-team activity around each requisition.
- Interview scheduling with calendar integration
- Structured interview kits and scorecards
- Hiring-manager and panel collaboration tools
- Feedback collection and consolidated candidate notes
- Offer letter generation and e-signature workflow
Analytics & Reporting
Recruiting metrics and benchmarking, including a dedicated analytics module.
- Time-to-fill, cost-per-hire and pipeline-conversion dashboards
- Customizable executive dashboards with sharing/export
- Trend analysis and hiring forecasts
- Benchmarking against Employ's combined customer base
- DEI and EEO compliance reporting, including bias-detection and pay-equity tracking
Onboarding & Compliance
Handoff from offer acceptance into onboarding.
- Onboarding automation add-on
- I-9 and background-check workflow integrations
- Offer approval workflows
- Candidate data retention and privacy controls (GDPR/CCPA)
Common use cases
- Replacing spreadsheets or a legacy ATS as a company scales its hiring volume
- Running high-volume, multi-location hiring (e.g. retail store associates) with structured workflows
- Building and nurturing a long-term candidate pipeline via CRM rather than one-off requisitions
- Standardizing structured interviews and scorecards across a growing hiring-manager base
- Reporting hiring metrics and DEI/EEO compliance data to leadership and auditors
- Connecting recruiting data to an existing HRIS (e.g. Workday) to unify pre-hire and post-hire records
- Automating candidate communications (rejections, nurture emails) to keep pipelines moving without added recruiter headcount
Strengths & considerations
Strengths
- Unifies ATS and CRM functionality in one platform rather than treating sourcing/nurture as a bolt-on
- AI screening features (fit scores, pipeline-health alerts, automated rejection drafting) are native rather than third-party add-ons
- Part of the Employ, Inc. three-brand portfolio (JazzHR, Lever, Jobvite), giving customers a defined upgrade path as hiring complexity grows
- Recruiting-analytics benchmarking draws on Employ's combined customer base rather than a single-tenant dataset
- 300+ marketplace integrations spanning HRIS, background checks, assessments, sourcing, video interviewing and e-signature
ERP integrations
Documented in a Lever customer case study (Basis Technologies), which built a Lever-to-Workday HRIS integration in 10 weeks to connect pre-hire and post-hire data; not listed as a native Lever Marketplace connector.
Pricing
Pricing is available on request and scales with organization size and hiring needs; Lever states "pay for what you need to hire." Paid add-ons include Candidate Insights, AI Screening by VONQ, and onboarding automation. Get an independent shortlist with pricing guidance below.
Technical & security
- Hosting
- SaaS (multi-tenant), hosted on AWS across US-West2 and EU-Central1 regions
- Data residency
- US, EU
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001, GDPR, CCPA
- Languages
- English
About the vendor
- Founded
- 2012
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Ownership
- Private (subsidiary of Employ, Inc.; acquired from independent ownership in August 2022)
- Notable customers
- Coupa, Hot Topic, Aircall, 15Five, KPMG New Zealand, Entrata, Kinsta
Alternatives to Lever in Talent Acquisition
Lever — frequently asked questions
Is Lever still an independently operated product?
No. Lever was acquired by Employ, Inc. in August 2022 and now operates as one of three ATS brands under Employ, alongside JazzHR and Jobvite. It remains an actively developed, separately sold product rather than being merged or discontinued.
Does Lever integrate with Workday?
Lever does not list Workday as a native Marketplace connector, but a published Lever customer case study (Basis Technologies) describes building a custom Lever-to-Workday integration in about 10 weeks to connect hiring and HR data.
Does Lever publish its pricing?
No. Lever uses quote-based pricing that scales with company size and hiring volume, with cost available on request through a demo or sales call. Paid add-ons such as Candidate Insights, AI Screening by VONQ, and onboarding automation are priced separately.
What compliance certifications does Lever hold?
Lever (under Employ) holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications audited by Schellman, and states GDPR and CCPA compliance, including EU Data Privacy Framework adherence and Standard Contractual Clauses for EU data transfers.
What size company is Lever built for?
Employ positions Lever as its "scalable hiring" tier, sitting between JazzHR (smaller/foundational hiring teams) and Jobvite (larger, more complex enterprise hiring), though its published case studies span lean startup recruiting teams to organizations hiring thousands of hourly staff.
Evaluating Talent Acquisition?
Tell us your ERP and requirements and we'll send an independent shortlist — including Lever and the best-fit alternatives — with honest pros and cons.